| The question to be asked is what to do when the pins don’t line up?
In a perfect world a part built fuselage with two identical length sides, where the formers are glued at right angles to the sides should result in a perfectly true fuselage when drawn together at the tail post. Unfortunately due to variations in the balsa wood used to produce the kit, or purchased from your local model shop, all the care in the world can still result in an unsymmetrical fuselage.
One solution is to use a fuselage jig. These can be purchased as a custom made item but they are not cheap or a simple one can be made very easily.
I was given my jig by a fellow modeller giving up the hobby after many years. It comprises a 48” x 12” blockboard base which has been ruled with a 1” grid, to this base are screwed a number of L shaped metal brackets. In use the brackets are positioned a short distance from the sides of the fuselage and wooden wedges are used between the fuselage and the brackets until the fuselage is in the position you want.
With a traditional fuselage which is parallel from the TE forward I construct it normally and only put it into the jig, if needed, to pull the rear ends together, however in more complicated fuselages where all the formers are of different widths and there is no flat area on the sides the jig really comes into its own.
Unfortunately I have no fuselage to show in the jig at present and my wedges have been put away so safe I can’t find them so you’ll have to use a bit of imagination I’m afraid. |